We live in a technological world now, like it or not. The ever-advancing field is now bringing facial recognition technology to airports. Specifically, 16 across the United States will be the first to try out the fancy gadget. Travelers would be able to put their driver's license on a card reader, then look into a camera on a small screen, which will compare an image to the ID.
Aviation analyst Jay Ratliff says the purpose of it is two-fold.
"It is to provide additional and enhanced security, but it is also about the speed or processing passengers," he says. "Certainly, this is needed because we could be looking at twice the number of people flying in 10 years as we do right now."
It might be a scary thing, considering all the bad things technology can do, but Ratliff insists it is a good thing. If you still do not trust it though, it will not be a requirement.
"Airlines will allow us to opt-out, so we can go through another process, and go from there," he says.
The initial test list includes airports in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Gulfport-Biloxi, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Jose, and Washington D.C.
While this is a test-run at the airports, this is not a new technology, it is already being used.
"It is being used all over at major sporting events...it is already there from a security standpoint. This is not something new, this has been in place," he says.
Houston is a noticeable absence on the list. But if the technology proves to be impactful, and actually work at smoothing out wait times, you will see it here soon.
"If it proves itself to be operationally sounds, then yes, we will start seeing it at airports across the country," says Ratliff.
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